


A Matter of Time

by Taifics



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternative Timelines, Death, Emotional, Episode: s10e12 The Doctor Falls, F/M, Friendship/Love, Gen, M/M, Major injuries, Master and Bill relations, Missy made a promise, Moral Differences, Pain, Plan of escape, Regeneration, Sarcastic CyberBill, Some little Easter Eggs included, The Master and Missy actually stand with the Doctor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-12-18 10:05:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 7,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11872068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taifics/pseuds/Taifics
Summary: The alternative timelines are stashed by the Time itself and one of them, kept deep in its well, shows what would happen if the Master and Missy stood with the Doctor.Would it change the inevitable chain of fatal events anyhow? Would they all actually survive? Would they become friends again?Alternative ending of "The Doctor Falls" (episode).





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So here is my little attempt to write alternative ending of "The Doctor Falls". Although the story itself has a lot of chapters, as you can see, they are mostly short so, I hope, it is not gonna be boring.  
> Comments and generally any passing remarks are obviously welcome.  
> I also feel obliged to mention that I'm not a native speaker of English language so do forgive me please any possible mistakes.

_Everything in the vast universe is indeed nothing but a matter of Time. His private business. Time. Fanciful, unpredictable and merciless. Time._

_Possibilities he possesses outnumber the actual realities in ways one could not simply imagine even having uncommonly vivid imagination._

_If you have ever let yourself fantasise about the impossible, if you have ever let your mind wander off so far that the pure awareness of it made you laugh out of improbability then you ought to know... Every single piece of your thought actually happened._

_Time collects them, stash them and makes them as genuine as your boring, ordinary cup of morning tea. Every butterfly of idea, every manic scenario... Every possible you. Happened._

_You create timelines constantly, unwittingly, as a side effect of your existence... You make them real. Your alternatives are slaves of Time. Alternatives are his matters. His private business. Time. Fanciful, unpredictable and merciless._

_Time._

 

_I saw billions of them, floating around me in the golden streams of regeneration energy. On the day of my death. One of many previous deaths of mine. I saw billions of alternatives. Mischiefs of Time. Why did he show me them? His precious pets? To sooth me? To punish me? I cannot say. He let me, though, remember one. A grain of his golden sand. No more than one._

 

 ***

 

 


	2. Promise

The Master was so obviously up to leave the solar farm, heading towards the lift with his face camly joyous. A perfect mask of non-caring.

“Right, come on, then, hop in. Straight down,” he spoke eventually as it was the most natural thing in the universe that she would follow.

Yet probably, deep inside, he knew. He already knew by then...

The Mistress felt cold blade in her palm. She had to.

_Come here._

Simple words. Just let them come out of her mouth. _She had to_. He would never let her go.

“Come here,” she ordered.

“I'm sorry?” asked the Master perplexed.

“Come here, I said.”

_Let's just have it done._

_Cold, smooth blade..._

“Seriously? Are we really going to do this?”

The Master was pleased. He opened his arms invitingly, coming closer.

He embraced her.

Gently.

_Smell of his clothes, skin, hair..._

A blade in her palm...

_Wind, pepper, electricity..._

_Cold. Smooth._

Blade.

“Don't you dare,” he whispered right to her ear with his voice low and his body suddenly tensed.

She froze.

He did not stop holding her.

“Oh, Missy...” he murmured softly. “Why?”

“Because he's right,” she replied quietly, “because it's time to stand with him.”

He moved away slowly to see her face. He was frowned, cross.

“It's time to stand with the Doctor,” she stated firlmly.

“No. _Never._ ”

“I will never stand with the Doctor!” he growled inches from her face. She could feel his hot breath.

“Yes, my dear, _you will_ ,” she informed, staring at him intensively.

For a moment they were glaring at each other in silence. Missy was clenching her fist around the hidden blade and she was suddenly well aware of him doing the same with his screwdriver.

_A matter of time._

“You knew,” she said almost unknowingly.

“I suspected,” he admitted. “Not instantly... It was a matter of seconds. ”

“A matter of time.”

“Yeah.”

“You would...”

“I was not entirely sure... I wouldn't.”

“Don't you lie to me.”

“Let's say, I was close to let my suspicion go.”

“So, what's now, Master?”

“I won't let you, Missy.”

“You know, it's where we've always been going,” she smiled, “and it's happening now, today. And you, my dear, won't stop it from happening.”

“You really think so?” he asked with his tone soaked with threat.

“Yes, I do really think so” she smiled oddly. “Stop fussing around and go with me or go to your TARDIS and bye-bye.”

“I was given a choice! Oh, how generously of you!” he spoke out loud plainly close to the state of cold fury.

“Blah, blah, blah... ” Missy gasped, rolling her eyes. “Do you want me to stab you? Cause I can stab you right away if that's what you want! Stabbing you would actually be a real pleasure and a real fun of some sorts. And then what? You would make me cripsy as an exchange?”

“You know exactly what I can do.”

“Don't be silly, dear! Seriously, why?!”

The Master blinked.

“Why what?”

“Why would you kill us? So dramatic. I am who I want to be, I do what I want to do or I die. Just stop it. Stop being a juicy strawberry! Get over it and come along!” she exclaimed cheerfully.

“Holy TARDIS of Gallifrey, you are even speaking just like him! Now that's sick!” he replied disgusted, taking step aback.

“I mean it, silly little you,” she added, holding back a laugh. “Get. Over. It. Imagine... He's going to make Davros his archenemy instead of us if you do it! _Davros_!”

“Nah, he wouldn't!”

“Oh, yes, he would. Believe me. I know things. You know, such vacancy...”

“That's not happening!” protested the Master offended.

“Hopefully,” agreed Missy.

“Me being his pet,” he continued after a while, “THAT'S not happening either.”

“Like that's ever gonna happen!” said Missy, winking to him conspirationally.

There was yet still some unresolved tension between them. Seconds. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

“I would go but I need you to promise me a thing,” spoke the Master slowly, studying her face carefully. “And don't you ever try to betray me... again. You know exactly what I am capable of.”

“What promise?”

“Afterwards you won't go with him.”

She pursed her lips slightly, looking up puzzled.

“You know it's impossible. You and him. Don't you deceive yourself so miserably.”

After a while she nodded visibly defeated.

“Promise.”

The Master observed her briefly and nodded back.

“Shall we then... ” finally he offered her his arm, straightening up and smiling charmingly.

“Kick some Cybersnacks?” asked the Mistress innocently.

“And maybe help our poor, old grandpa?” consulted the Master politely.

“Sounds deliciously!” she jumped up lightly.

“But after that I demand a proper dessert!” he ordered, making pouty lips.

“Such a spoilt child you are!” replied Missy, shaking her head with reproval.

“Just one, tiny, unimportant planet with some nasty species to rule over or burn, pretty please?” he made his features absurdly childish.

“Deal,” she agreed, grinning widely.

And so they went straight back to the village. Side by side.

 

***

 

 


	3. Short-term Alliance

The Doctor was standing all alone in the front of the house, counting seconds inside his mind. Bill had just gone away to guard the backyard, leaving terribly hurting blank space somewhere inside his chest.

_Without hope._

_Without witness._

_Without reward._

He took a step forward. One. Two. Three.

“Where do you think you are going?” the question came out of nowhere and the Doctor quickly turned his head around in searching for its source.

To his utter surprise he spotted Missy and the Master on his right side. They were strolling peacefully in his direction with no any signs of rush. She was holding Master's arm, smiling subtly at the Doctor. The question was obviously asked by the Master. He was smiling as well, yet with a faint hint of malice.

They ridiculously reminded the Doctor of some merry newlyweds during their idyllic afternoon walk.

He blinked in order to wipe this thought off his head for he've found it strangely disturbing.

“What in the name of sanity are you doing here?” he managed to gasp finally still frozen with shock.

“Insanity, more likely,” corrected him Missy as they both came close enough to stop at place.

“Me and sis had a small... debate to decide,” said the Master happily, coughed and then added melodically, “wheather you should live or die...”

“Shortly speaking, we decided you should... live,” interrupted him the Mistress.

“So you... You... ” Doctor stammered, skipping his gaze from one to another with pure disbelief. “Will you stand with me? Will you?”

“Oh, no, he's having an emotion again!” sighed the Master, looking up the artificial sky with desperation. “No... _I_ won't _stand_ with you! _I_ will _rescue_ you for clearly you cannot do it yourself and, as cosmos without your annoying presence scarcely bears thinking about, I saddly have to do it.”

“He's quoting himself right now,” informed Missy politely.

“It's so like him, isn't it?” the Doctor said smiling warmly with understanding.

The Master shrugged and smirked.

“Who else could I quote?” he asked simply. “I am the wisest one around!”

The Mistress giggled shortly in response.

The Doctor felt odd relief, smiling back, even though he was aware that this alliance would be only a short-term one. Fleeting thing, nevertheless, precious over imagination.

Yet that unusually pleasant atmosphere could not last endlessly. The distant sound of marching army was much too hard to ignore by then.

The Mistress let Master's arm go. Her silhouette straightened up, her facial expression focused, serious. The Master's posture changed as well. His head up, eyes vigilant.

Both of them had something that painfully reminded the Doctor of the Time War. He could almost see them mixed as one: mighty warrior, commander of the vast Gallifreyan army on the eve of battle with the Daleks, standing on the hill all alone. Wind was dancing through the leaves of red grass making it look like flames. The Master of War. The Lover of Chaos.

_Indeed._

“The Cybermen are coming,” spoke the Doctor, struggling innerly to overcome the vision which he found terrifaying and peculiary tempting at the same time. “Nardole's evacuating people through the cannal. We have to wait to make it sure that they're safe. Bill's guarding the backyard. I have my screwdriver set to...”

“Blow the floor up,” Missy finished the sentence blankly.

“You wouldn't survive it, you utter fool” said the Master irritated, shaking his head. “It cannot be done remotely.”

“I didn't mean to survive it...”

“You used the past tense,” noticed Missy.

“Because you are the present,” he said, grinning maddly and looking back at them.

“Oh, I know that face!” said the Mistress, smirking slyly.

“I don't like it,” stated the Master helplessly.

“I do love it,” stated Missy willingly in response.

 

***

 

 


	4. Missy Dances

Missy was running through the forest, hiding behind the trees like a playful little girl, hearing each of them explode just behind her back. Cybermen were following her. Loads of them.

She made a graceful spin, avoiding being shoot, pointed her umbrella at one of enemies and blew him up, squealing happily. Then another spin and boom. Spin. Boom. Spin. Boom. She felt slightly dizzy and ended up gasping for the air. She escaped them. For a brief moment.

Whizz of cyberlaser came out of nowhere and she felt her palm burning with sudden pain. Her umbrella was destroyed. Her hand marked with burnt stains. Pain. The Cyberman was standing on the left ready to kill her any moment.

Missy took a hesitant step back.

“You broke my toy, you brainless tin-boy!” he shouted angrily at the Cybarman coming closer and closer. “I liked that particular one! That's not the best way to flirt with me if that was your goal!”

He was ready to shoot again.

Missy backed further away.

And then the Cyberman just exploded suddenly, bursting with flames.

“Finally!” Missy sighed with relief. “Where the hell have you been? He destroyed my toy and toasted my palm!”

“WHAT-A-PITY,” spoke mechanically the other Cyberman who was standing behind the one who was now burning slowly.

“You are the most sarcastic Cyberman I've ever met, you know that?”

The Cyberman said nothing but surely she was smirking spitefully somewhere inside in response. _She_. The CyberBill. Human-companion-turned-into-toaster. Missy felt oddly disturbed thinking of it. She shook her head, raised her hand, pressed the invisible button and the lift opened, materialising out of the thin air

The Mistress stood in the front of it with Bill by her side.

 

***

 

 


	5. The Doctor at Work

The Doctor was kneeling behind the large rock, breathing as quietly as he could. He was putting tiny wires together using his sonic screwdriver. He hoped that the Master and Missy managed to do their job too. He was stopping and hiding, lying flat in the grass every now and then when he heard any hint of presence somewhere near. That made the process itself awfully long, but he could not risk being detected.

To make every single fuse blow at the same time – that was the plan. Such action would cause magnificent ripple effect and finally the massive explosion of the whole floor. They only had to connect the right wires of every fuse, of every hidden lift except one. The separated one which would take them away in the last second, right after the Doctor triggered the crucial load of energy with his properly set screwdriver. That final act would lead to the overload and explosion itself.

For one man it was impossible to do. Overload would come automatically too soon, way before he could even think of escape and it would certainly not be so powerful to blow absolutely everything. Maybe only a small part of it.

But for the three of them and one Cyberman? Well, it was still nearly impossible. The fatal overload still may came before the right time but there was no other way. He would not risk lifes of the village people and Nardole with that. Yet he could risk life of three (or two?) renegades and a Cyberman! Well, they actually still had a chance to survive. Somehow.

The Doctor smiled twisting wires together eventally. He stood up.

_Done._

“HUMANOID-LOCATED. DELETE. DELETE. DELETE,” the Cybermen were coming, repeating the same words over and over again like mantra.

And so the Doctor ran, and ran, and ran...

 

***

 

 

 


	6. Counting Seconds

Missy felt uncomfortably impatient. She was standing by the lift with CyberBill and waiting, counting... Worried.

_A matter of time._

They could appear within seconds.

Any second.

_Please._

CyberBill was shooting enemies which were constantly coming out of the darkness by herself as Missy had no longer her laser umbrella. The Time Lady nearly growled with frustration. She felt so vunerable without it!

_Where are you?_

She clenched her fists behind her back with her face blank so that CyberBill could not see it.

 

***

 


	7. Even on the Moon

He was killing Cybermen with his sonic, shooting any he could see before the other one could shoot him

Normally, the Doctor would refuse using any sort of violence, but this time it was necessary. Killing. Fair exchange for upgradeing, for hurting, for things far worse than death... Cybermen. They were _not_ humans. He had to repeat it in his mind every single time he pressed the button to fire. Death was the only favor he could do them. They were _not_ humans.

The Doctor jumped to avoid the hole in the ground.

“Telos! Sealed you into your ice tombs!” he cried out loud.

Shoot.

“Voga! Canary Wharf! Planet 14!”

Shoot. Shoot. Shoot.

“Every single time, you lose!”

Shoot.

“Even on the Moon!”

He spotted the familar figure in the distance.

_Shoot._

 

***

 

 

 


	8. Side by Side

The Mistress saw it all in slow motion. The Doctor jumped from behind the tree, having at least ten Cybermen following him. He was shooting, dancing, crying out loud fiercely surrounded by sparkles, by flames and smoke... Missy would never admit it, even to herself, yet, while she was trapped in the cage of these mare seconds, she'd found him the most beautiful phenomenon in the whole wide universe.

Then he looked straight in her direction and... fell down. Fast. Hard. The light of cyberlaser nearly shot him but the fall saved his life. She didn't know when it happened or how, but she was running to him immediately, with no second thought, passing slowly pacing enemies with graceful spins and twists.

The Doctor was kneeling, trying to stand up among the mud and grass. She took his elbow with one hand, letting him lean on her, and his sonic with the other one, ignoring the pain of burnt skin of her palm completely, and then, not asking for his permission, Missy started killing Cybermen, violently, using his device.

They were soon standing side by side, she and the Doctor, holding hands, backing off with the Mistress shooting and the Doctor pulling her to go, to run fast to the lift.

“Come on! Missy!” he shouted right to her ear. “Leave them alone! We've got to go!”

“I... Am...” she gasped, shooting angrily. “I am... not gonna let them live! They... nearly killed you!”

“Oh, how lovely!” repiled the Doctor, dragging her by her hand. “But the time is really not right for being sentimental... and I can't believe I've just said that!”

The Mistress bursted out with hysterical laugh.

“But killing you is my duty!” she exclaimed eventually. “And that's about high time to be sentimental if we're trying to be friends again! And I can't believe I've just said THAT too!”

She destroyed the last two Cybermen that left and let the Doctor lead her to the lift's door guarded by Bill.

 

***

 

 

 


	9. Bill's Choice

“Where is the Master?” asked the Doctor worried, as soon as they reached their destination.

“I don't know... He should be here by now,” she replied, trying to hide strange confussion.

“We shouldn't have separated,” spoke the Doctor concerned and clearly angry at himself out of sudden. “We just shouldn't have done that!”

“WHAT'S-SO-WRONG?” asked Bill.

“Just think! He's Missy's past. Without him... If something went wrong... Then she... She would just...”

The Doctor couldn't finish the sentence loudly, couldn't look at Missy, gritting his teeth and staring absently at the far-away invisible point.

“That's not all, my lovely tin-friend,” spoke the Mistress with some tension in her voice and her face oddly empty. “He's not telling you all, of course. If someting went wrong... We and God knows what or who else would just vanish instantly as our timelines are mixed together inseparably. Yours as well.”

The Doctor nodded.

“That's true. It's hard to predict the actual consequences of the sudden death of the Master. Nor can we predict consequences of him staying alive... Well, we don't quite know where are the borders of what should and shouldn't happen right now, but... The point is... I don't want him to be dead! I can _feel_ it's not how he should end up like. That's all. I know he can't die now. Not his time. Not just yet.”

Bill tilted her metal head on one side thoughtfully.

“I'M-GOING-TO-FIND-HIM,” she informed after a while.

“No, Bill,” the Doctor said, waving his hands to express his firm disagrement. “We can't go. We must guard the door. We must... You can't!”

“SHUT-UP!” interrupted Bill. “YOU-STAY. I-GO. MISSY-HAD-NO-LONGER-HER-LASER-THINGY. YOU-HAVE-TO-FIGHT-WITH-YOURS. YOU-BOTH-HAVE-TO-STAY-HERE. I-WILL-LEAD-AS-MANY-CYBERMEN-AS-I-CAN-AWAY-FROM-HERE-OR-KILL-THEM.”

“But you can't!”

“OF-COURSE-I-CAN. I-LL-FIND-THE-MASTER. I-KNOW-WHERE-IS-THE-FUSE-HE-WAS-SUPPOSED-TO-FIX,” she spoke impatiently.

“You stop being brave at once! You don't have to. You stay. I can go myself... I can... And then you can...”

“I-AM-THE-USEFUL-ONE-NOW. I-AM-THE-CYBERMAN. AND-AS-I-SAID-JUST-SHUT-UP-DOCTOR. I-GO. DON'T-TRY-TO-STOP-ME-OR-I'LL-SHOOT-YOU. YOU-KNOW-I-CAN.”

“Oh, Bill,” the Doctor's voice was trembling when he spoke finally. “But promise me you'll come back. Promise me. Please.”

“I-PROMISE.”

The Doctor gave her long, sad look and tensed, all dead serious he added:

“You've got exactly forty-four minutes. If the Master did his job on time, by then all fixed fuses will reach the critical state of overload. One additional load of my screwdriver and boom.”

“WHAT-IF-I-WON'T-MAKE-IT?”

He pursued his lips and downcasted his eyes but spoke quietly:

“If I won't add my load, the fatal error of long-lasting overload will cause the failure of the floor's main system itself. All fuses will blow almost instantly, the power will be cut permanetly. We're stucked. No single lift. Nothing.”

Bill gave them one last look and took a step to go.

“Bill!” it was Missy who called out her name using it for the first time.

The Cyberman turned to look at her with those cold, dark eyes of machine.

“Thank you,” said the Mistress with her voice extraordinarily affected. “Don't let them kill you, can you?”

Bill nodded in response and went away disappearing soon among the trees.

 

***

 

 

 


	10. Serious Troubles of the Master

The Master was having serious troubles. Serious troubles sounded much better than deadly troubles or simply being at the brink of life. The wooden wall behind his back was yet clearly unconcerned with his difficult situation.

The Time Lord had been just playing with the wires, tangling red ones with blue ones, when the Cybermen located him. He finished his job, symultaneously incapacitating nasty tin-souldiers and was almost proud of himself that he dealt with both tasks at the same time on his own, when suddenly the number of enemies increased horribly. He was forced to ran in opposite direction, looking the way round to get to the lift. But wherever he went there was more and more of those pathetic Cyberfools.

Thus the Master was standing with his back against the wall of the main house in the village, crashing enemies with his back (literally) to the wall.

The tigh circle of Cybermen around him was something unbearable. He felt his laser screwdriver getting hotter and hotter with every shot close to overcharging itself.

So that's it, he thought shortly, the end. Silly. Unworthy. And who know's if it's actually according to his timeline's plan? Causing the Doctor and oh-how-many others the time-mess would be pleasant, to be honest, yet consequences could be far from his expectations. Something as far from his expectations as the cancelling his best year as a Prime Minister for instance.

“Die! Die! Die! Bloody Cyberbugs!”

He was shouting manically, never giving up. Tiny droplets of sweat caused by the effort kept appearing on his forhead. The screwdriver's power was weaker with every passing moment. His shoulder was already wounded, smelling with burnt flesh, hurting awfully, as well as his knee. The end was just a matter of time. The Master closed his eyes and...

He heard the sound of small explosion or rather few explosions and then there was nothing but the silence. He opened his eyes carefully. There was just one Cyberman standing proudly in the front of him. His screwdriver was useless by then.

“Do it,” he ordered, never willing to be obedient looser in the face of death.

The Cyberman was standing still.

“Do it!” he repeated, getting annoyed instantly.

Nothing.

“What sort of rubbish are you?”

“I-AM-YOUR-DEAREST-PERSON.”

 

***

 

 


	11. Paradoxes

Missy handled Doctor's device, protecting their only possible gate of escape. She was not keen on giving it back as soon as she gained it and so the Doctor let her keep it. The Mistress, in fact, needed any sort of reassurance, anything that could make just an illusion she's not vunerable or weak. He provided her with that sort of self-deception the only way he could. By letting her be herself.

She was standing there, smiling sharply, her eyes as cold as frozen lakes of the Silver Devastation glittering with occacional sparkles of red and golden light when Cyberbodies were exploding vividly.

“Finding pleasure in an act of murder” retorted the Doctor, trying not to sound too tartly once he identified her slightly enigmatic grin as a genuine one of nearly innocent joy, “isn't it tiny bit barbarous?”

“I've never thought of it in such fasion,” she replied, smiling and aiming her gun at another victim. “That's the life at its purest. I dare not to put value on the life which does not fight for itself. That's the primal law of nature, Doctor. Fight. The endless war. You may like it or not, but that's how it works. I'm fighting for what belongs to me. My life. Moreover, what kind of abomination is the life that should be long gone yet it's still there? Cyberpuppets! I do set what's left alive in them free! I'm being kind! Boom-boom! Bye!”

Her last word was as well the last word that the closest Cyberman heard in his existence.

“You see, Missy,” sighed the Doctor, watching her prey falling down with smoke and fire, “that's the main reason we can never properly get each other. You seem to believe blindly in your superiority, hating any comparision to the animal, to the world of inferior creatures, though you still paradoxically keep going back to speaking of insect-like matters you despise, laws of nature and life, its value... That value you're keep taking away from the other creatures... If it has such value then wouldn't it be better to teach every living being in the universe about this precious value than to take it away from them without their blisstful awarness of it?”

Missy laughed shortly.

“And this way to turn them into warriors similar to the one I am myself? Once you teach them this, they'll become fighters. If my views are paradoxical in any way then so are yours, dear! Violence is abhorrent to you, isn't it? But you keep fighting, living and teaching others to fight... Why, yet they keep dying if they're fighting for their oh-so-precious lifes? Those cute companions of yours? I'll tell you. Because you teach them to trust you rather than to trust themselves, you teach them to value your life over their own so they are only half-warriors, always waiting for you, not trying to think and fight for their own lifes, only ready to sacrifice for your own sake. Only sacrificing. Only waiting. For you. Like Bill.”

The Doctor's face was so hurt that Missy instantly hated herself for saying that out loud so she added immediately:

“Don't you blame yourself, Doctor. In the end we are all nothing but tricks of time struggling for the privilige of living in the cruel vastness of the universe as long and best as we can, against all orders. Every struggle resonating with the other struggles, every move leads to another. You cannot quite predict the effect which can be, surprisengly, far from your hopes or expectations. No one knows that as well as we do. You're chasing madness of good, and kind, and moral boring messy pile of stuff and I'm entirely starving for domination, for war out of pure evil and awfully egoistic reasons. As a result you are an egoist who's playing carelessly with lifes of the others, mastering them and I'm standing here with you, deeply attached to your moral insanity and actually wanting to turn good, to cure myself like I was both patient and a proper doctor!”

He cracked a smile in response. The sad, understanding and utterly hopeless one.

“We are about paradoxes then it seems, aren't we?” summarised the Doctor plainly.

“Say at last – who art thou? That Power I serve which wills forever evil yet does forever good,” spoke Missy, nodding and taking an aim at the next Cyberman.

“ _Faust_ , Goethe,” whispered the Doctor to himself, watching the next abomination of life burning, hissing, dying.

Maybe she was right about them, anyway? Maybe killing Cybermen was nothing but setting poor leftovers of humanity free? Possibly... That might be.

 

***

 

 

 


	12. Limping Master and the Cyberman

Bill was pointing the gun at him... Hesitating, considering?

_I-AM-YOUR-DEAREST-PERSON._

An echo of words just spoken was still drifting in the air around, making the atmosphere itself uncomfortably heavy, stuffy.

“Hello again, my dear,” he said snidely, slipping back into his Razor-like accent. “Have a go then. Do it. I certainly deserve a slap!”

“NO,” she replied slowly. “I-CAME-TO-RESCUE-YOU-YOU-IDIOT.”

“Saucy! So this is a rescue mission? I'm honoured! I love rescue missions!” he clapped his hands with a husky laugh and then scratched the back of his head theatrically bewildered, “Well, to be honest, I meant stopping them right in the middle... ” he coughed and brightened up fastly, “That's new though! Can be fun! A rescue mission especially for me? Oh, so touching!”

He sniffed comically, pretending he's wiping a tear from his eye.

Bill rolled her eyes internaly and turned to went back to the forest, but then she heard an unpleasant chocking noise from behind. She looked at the Master briefly.

He was leaning on the wall with an effort, his eyes closed, palm pressed to his shoulder firmly.

She came near to him as fast as she could and took his palm away, ignoring short noise of protest he made. Burnt, deep wound she uncovered was truly impressive one with miserably looking yellowish blisters. Bits of his coat and shirt were fused with his own skin. Bill looked down and saw his left knee in similar state. He had to stand deliberately in a way that made both injuries invisible at first glance before. How long he wanted to pretend everything was fine?

_Idiot._

The Master hissed painfully, opening his narrow, hazel eyes, glittering with a distant sign of oncoming fever.

“YOU-REALLY-ARE-AN-IDIOT,” informed Bill, unable to restrain herself from saying it aloud anymore.

“The name is the Master,” he mumbled through clenched teeth.

“CAN-YOU-WALK?”

He tried to move away from the wall and take a step to pass Bill by but he ended up loosing his balance and catching her arm clumsily to prevent himself from falling down.

“Rescue mission, then, indeed?” he chocked out, trying hardly to sound nonchalant despite the nasty pain he must have been sensing.

Bill held him for a brief moment, looking in his merciless, mad eyes and then she made a small nodd. There was no other way. She let him lean on her and so they went: limping Master and a Cyberman.

 

 

***

 

 


	13. Winning

“That's enough,” stated the Doctor, “give me back my sonic. It's my turn.”

Missy's eyes gave him a pretty stubborn look of complete disagreement.

“No.”

Her plain response was followed by three rapid shots and three little explosions.

“Don't be silly! Your palm!”

Her right hand burnt by the cyberlaser was in fatal state and handling the weapon firmly for too long did not improve it in any way. Her palm was slightly trembling though Missy was not willing to admit she was unable to keep going like this.

“Merely scratches!”

Then they both had to kneel down to avoid being killed by the deadly fire of upcoming enemies.

“Don't force me to take it away from you against your will!” he whispered passionately into her ear.

Her eyes brightened suddenly at these words.

“What are you waiting for then? That would be spicy!” she purred in response.

The Doctor shuddered bewildered visibly.

“That's not the right time!”

“We are Time Lords! There's no such thing like not the right time!”

“The name of our race means nothing but the owners of the biggest ego in the universe and you represent its spirit fairly.”

Missy giggled quietly and pointed gun at another Cyberman which was just coming out from behind the tree thirty feet away.

“Talk is cheap,” she murmured, “you said you will take it away against my will so I'm waiting!”

The Doctor frowned dangerously and with one swift movement took his screwdriver from her hand before she could do anything. Missy just hissed painfully because of rough treatment that her burnt palm just received.

“Now I win,” whispered the Doctor, smiling viciously and shooting at her previous target.

Missy smiled enigmaticly, ignoring the pain.

 

***

 

 


	14. Cooperation

Bill and the Master reached the forest surprisingly fast considering the unfavourable circumstances. They were lucky enough not to meet any Cybermen on their way ever since Bill rescued the Time Lord. They were pacing slowly but gradually and completely quietly. The Master was too busy holding back every painful noise ready to escape his mouth to actually speak. Additionaly, he was doing his best to restrain himself from shivering out of pure humilitation. Whereas Bill had to focus on remaining calm in his presence and not trigger the gun. That was particulary uneasy task.

Yet when they passed first line of trees the Master hissed sorely, digging nails of his left palm in his tigh. She stopped letting the Time Lord collect himself.

“I... Really... Hate... Cybermen,” he announced after a moment with his voice hoarse.

“MIND-YOUR-WORDS,” spoke Bill, “ONE-SAVED-YOUR-BLOODY-LIFE.”

The Master lifted his head to look at her face. He must have had terribly high fever judgeing from the unhealthy colour of his cheeks and his eyes shining brightly.

“Yeah, quite right too,” he agreed with short cough and half-smile, “I must admit, I made a splendid job with you. I do not regret it.”

Bill's fingers gripped on his wrist tightened slightly.

The Master noticed that and laughed harshly, downcasting his head for a short while. Then he looked up again, straight into black, empty holes which supposed to be her eyes and smiled.

“That was me being nice,” he said barely louder than whispering and then added with his weird accent, “a compliment, my dear friend.”

“LET'S-JUST-GO-BEFORE-I-SHOOT-YOU-ACCIDENTALLY.”

He nodded.

They continued their slow walk towards the lift but after just a few minutes they heard the marching sound coming closer and closer and soon they saw its source as well. The Cybermen started to coming out from behind the trees. Ten? Twelve? Twenty? The number of enemies seemed to be constantly increasing. Bill shot down six of them immediately but the rest started to shooting back so they had to duck.

The Master was pale and weak yet still kept trying to make his laser working.

“I-CAN'T-STOP-THEM-MYSELF! WHAT'S-UP-WITH-YOUR-THINGY?”

“My... _thingy_... was overcharged and now lost the damn power... ” growled the Master, desperately tinkering with his screwdriver.

Laser light whizzed over Bill's shoulder.

“THEN-DO-SOMETHING!”

“What do you think I'm doing right now? Sunbathing? It needs to recharge! It's gonna take some time!”

“YOU'RE-A-TIME-LORD! AND-THE-MASTER! I-THOUGHT-IT-MAKES-YOU-LESS... USELESS!”

“Oh, I should have made you without mouth!” he exclaimed tiny bit bemusedly.

Bill stood up and opened fire on the many enemies.

“I'LL-SHIELD-YOU. MAKE-IT-WORK!” she informed briefly.

Te Master curled up on the ground doing his best to focuse on his task and ignore disturbing choir in the background singing endlessly: DELETE-DELETE-DELETE.

 

***

 

 

 


	15. World Enough and Time

An echo of distant explosions and shooting was louder and louder with each passing minute. Doctor and Missy defeated the last wave of enemies and were standing restlessly, gazing into the darkness, trying to locate even faint hint of move.

“Had we but world enough, and time...” spoke the Doctor quietly, recalling a single verse of a human poem he could not quite remember.

“I'm afraid it's a rare luxury,” said the Mistress somehow automatically, “the one we cannot afford right now...”

“Five minutes, seven seconds,” apprised the Doctor, not looking at her.

 

 

***

 

 


	16. Breathing

“HURRY-UP!” shouted Bill wrapped with smoke, flames and screams of dying Cybermen.

“SHUTTY-UP!” replied the Master, observing the yellow loading bar on the side of his tool.

“I-MEAN-IT-I-...” the rest of her words were reduced to silence by loud crash and following it buzzing and hissing.

The Master saw sparks and smoke and then he saw Bill's arm being the source of it. She staggered, taking a shaky step back and then forward.

She was not feeling the actual pain which meant that at least her sensory inhibitor was working properly. There was only a strange weakness similar to the feeling of falling asleep. She felt so boneless, trembling inside. And thus she thought of giving up, letting it go... The Master would do himself. The Doctor... He would... He would... The next Cybermen took his aim straight at her heart or rather at her chest for she had no heart since years already.

And then she heard his breath. Such far-away surreal sound of someone's breathing behind her back loudly. Razor. The Master. _Breathing_. Living creature. That was something oddly reassuring, waking her up again, bringing her back to the stable reality.

She started shooting maddly, with no second thought, killing automatically every enemy in her reach.

The Master stood up eventually with his laser ready to use.

“It's my Cyberman!” he cried out angrily, shooting at the one that hurt Bill. “Make yourself your own!”

Bill would laugh hysterically hearing such unusual words escaping Master's mouth if it was not for the overwhelming feeling of weakness she still had to fight with.

They were slowly backing off in the direction of their only way of escape. The lift.

 

***

 

 

 

 

 

 


	17. Peculiarity

They appeared finally, with smoke and fire, with noise and screams, followed by the army of silver soldiers. Missy saw them clearly despite the mess around them: The Master and Bill fighting side by side, about three hundred feet away from the lift.

“Peculiar view, isn't it?” spoke the Doctor, trying to overcome growing anxiety. “The Master standing with someone.”

“Oh, is it?” replied Missy with strangely sad smile spreading across her features, sounding subtly in her voice.

The Doctor looked at her warmly.

“Yes,” he said simply. “Nevertheless, peculiarity can hold such beauty.”

The Mistress raised her oddly wet eyes and parted her lips in order to say it at least, to say...

But then something unpredictable happened, breaking the vibe of the moment.

 

***

 

 

 


	18. Positive Attitude

Simulteneously, while the Doctor and Missy first saw them, the Master noticed them as well.

“Oh, so damn close!” he yelled with a hint of frustration.

“YOU-KNOW-WHAT?” she asked inbetween one shot and another.

“What?”

“YOUR-TEA-DID-NOT-HELP-ME-WITH-THE-HORROR-THAT-CAME-AT-ALL!”

“Who did say it would?!”

“YOU DID!”

“Really? It must have been one of my most foolish lies!”

“OH-I-HATE-YOU-SO-MUCH!”

“I know!” the Master exclaimed, gasping for the air and holding back a moan of pain.

They hid behind a massive trunk for a short while.

“ARE-YOU-ALRIGHT?” asked Bill concerned.

“Fantastic!” he laughed harshly in response.

“EXCELLENT! POSITIVE-ATTITUDE!”

He frowned, giving her annoyed look.

“Stupid thing to say!”

“I-QUOTED-YOU.”

“Oh,” muttered the Master confused.

They jumped out from the tree forced by the oncoming enemies and laser lights whizzing around.

“We have no more than two minutes left!” he shouted to Bill. “We need to speed up!”

She turned to him just to see his eyes instantly changing shape from wide, astonished to narrowed, focused. Someone dragged her by the hand and to her utter surprise it was the Master. The yellow light of the Cyberlaser whizzed inches away from her head.

“Watch out!” he spoke visibly surprised himself and still holding her palm. “I... cannot fight them off by myself, tin-girl!”

He let her hand go.

 

***

 

 The Doctor blinked perplexed and opened his mouth slightly, seeing the Master holding Bill's hand.

“Speaking of peculiarity,” said Missy quietly.

 

***

 

 

 

 


	19. DELETE

They were less than hundred feet away when Cybermen changed their tactics and started to attack the Master, focusing the main force on him. Probably they identified him as a weak one as he was badly injured and clearly protected by Bill.

“BEHIND-ME!”

The Master obeyed and hid behind her back shooting from over her arm.

“BOOM! You Bastard! BOOM!” he yelled making them explode one by one.

They managed to decrease the number of enemies with not a single scratch and finally when they were only thirty feet away from the lift there was no Cyberman left.

Bill turned to the Master ready to congratulate him sarcastically, but the look on his face was vigilant again. She knew that look painfully too well. She turned away quickly. The last Cyberman was standing there, he just appeared out of the thin air or so it seemed.

“DELETE,” he announced and shot.

 

***

 

Missy stormed out despite the protests of the Doctor.

She screamed...

 

***

 

 

 


	20. No Breathing

Bill saw nothing but the darkness. There was a piercing scream somewhere in the distance. Smell of burnt flesh and fabric. Mechanic hissing, the sound of explosion and breathing. _Breathing_. Panting breathing. She opened her eyes and could see again. The forest. The Cyberman was dead, lying shining and lifeless down on the green, wet moss. Bill yet could not understand what happened. What happened? And then she saw him.

The Master was laying beneath her feet with his chest burnt completely. And even then he was able to laugh. Quiet, husky laugh...

“Always the woman,” he whispered when she knelt down to see him properly.

Bill could not think. She did not know what to think. What she actually should think, watching this round, somehow stoic face, narrow hazel eyes, broad forhead, white teeth shining with charming, triangular smirk? Evil, self-confident even then. Even then...

“But now differently... Died protecting the woman... Hilarious!”

“WHAT-NOW? WHAT?” she mumbled mechanically, not knowing where to start, how to start.

He smiled even wider.

“RAZOR! YOU-BLOODY-IDIOT!” she added cross with no sensible reason.

Bill tried to ignore the Doctor's and Missy's silent presence.

“I hate you too, Bill,” he whispered, using her name for the first time.

“AND-I-HATE-YOU!” she was really angry, watching that mean features, that overly exposed smirk, small nose, stupid round face and rubbish beard.

“We have to take him before the regeneration starts, Bill, sixty-six seconds left,” Doctor's voice was so surreal, so far-away, so blurry. His hand was resting on her uninjured arm.

“Bill,” Missy's voice was calm and quiet though she was clearly doing her best to stop it from breaking, “he's right.”

The Master gasped.

“Lady-me, Doc...” he mumbled and winked stupidly.

But he could not hid the effort visible in his every gesture.

The Master suddenly grabbed Bill's arm with one swift move and bent her over, closer. He whispered something right to her ear. His lips barely moved, still smiling wickedly. Nor Missy, nor the Doctor could hear his silent words. Bill yet was plainly empty after his last confession, staring helplessly at his vicious features.

The Master fell down, closed eyes and his grin disappeared.

_No breathing._

The Doctor was worried that the Master refused to regenerate again, but then the golden light started to glow, covering slowly his face.

“NOW!” the Doctor exclaimed and immediately started dragging his body towards the lift. Missy and Bill joined him so they got to its door instantly.

It opened with quiet hiss.

Missy was kneeling by the Master's body, mesmerised by the dancing sparks of golden energy, stunned seeing her own past-self slowly, very slowly regenerating... Her eyes reflected melancholy and something unidentified which could be described as a weird mixture of hopelessness and determination.

The Doctor nodded towards Bill and as he pressed the button on his sonic she pressed the one to close the door.

Violent turbulences, choking, struggling...

Silence.

 

***

 

They got to the Master's TARDIS as fast as it was possible and left his body laying on its floor, setting autopilot and random coordinates before.

They kept watching simple-shaped metal box disappearing with familiar sound echoing around them.

“What did he tell you, by the way?” asked The Doctor, not looking at Bill when the TARDIS vanished.

“YOU-ARE-MY-DEAREST-PERSON.”

Doctor smiled.

Missy did not.

 

***

 

 


	21. Best Enemies

Afterwards they headed towards the Doctor's ship but there was some strange spirit in the air. He could not ignore it, sensing an inevitable event coming like some nasty insect, a buzzing fly...

“My ladies,” he said, opening the door and inviting Missy and Bill to enter.

He turned to see the console glowing soothingly in the pleasant dark interior and smiled feeling much safer.

_Home, sweet home..._

“I am so sorry, Doctor,” he heard the quiet words.

It was Missy.

He turned to face her and saw her pointing Master's screwdriver directly at him.

Bill froze at place, unable to move. Literally.

“Useful setting I never cared to remember about,” explained the Mistress.

“Missy?”

“I am so sorry,” she repeated firmly with her eyes oddly blank, “but back off.”

“Missy...” he whispered, “no...”

“But I witnessed... ” she continued, “the effects of your kindness...”

“Missy...”

“They can kill, Doctor... The effects... And they killed him... Me... They killed me. You killed me...”

“Put it down, please...”

She shook her head.

“No, Doctor,” she said calmly, smiling subtly. “I'm not going with you anywhere. We are much too similar, you see, to ever be anything but best enemies.”

“That's not true. You are far too smart to actually believe it...”

“It's my last warning. Back off.”

He took a careful step towards her, offering her his hand.

“I am terribly sorry,” she said, trying to master her trembling voice and then she did shoot.

The laser light went right through his left heart, stopping him from breathing instantly, making him reminiscing the endless moments of his previous deaths...

Missy helped him to lie down. Her eyes were filled with tears.

_I'm sorry._

Telepathical words spoke with her soft, clear voice were resonating pleasantly inside his broad mind like an ancient song of Oods once upon a time.

She kissed him softly or was it just a dream?

To sooth him? To punish him? He just could not say.

The Mistress vanished and so his TARDIS did.

Obvious.

Distant sound of TARDIS like another note of song.

He saw Bill kneeling by his side.

“DOC-TOR,” she spoke with pity.

And that was the last of notes.

 

***

 

 

 


	22. Epilogue

_Thus I lie, counting alternatives, mischiefs of Time. What was true and what was a lie? I cannot say. That is the issue, the greatest of mine. All I know and will never deny – that everything is but a matter of time._

 

 


End file.
